Institute Booklet Addresses Sexual Harassment

By Eva Moy
Staff Reporter
____A booklet, Stopping Sexual Harassment: A Guide to Options and
Resources at MIT, was sent to all students, faculty and staff during
the fall.>

The booklet, one of a number of recommendations made by the MIT
Committee on Sexual Harassment, defines sexual harassment, suggests ways
people may deal with harassment and lists people and organizations to which
people can turn if they have questions or need help.

The committee, chaired by Samuel J. Keyser, associate provost for
educational programs and policy, released a report which addressed the
problem of harassment on campus and expressed concern about its impact on
free speech. It included representatives from the Academic Council,
faculty, administration, staff and students.

The report revised the current Institute policy on harassment and
suggested eliminating harassment through the use of "policy, education and
prevention and procedures."

In addition to describing MIT's policy on sexual harassment, the booklet
includes examples of actual harassment cases. Keyser said the examples were
included "because the discussion about sexual harassment tends to become
very abstract without examples."

The booklet also deals with "religious, ethnic and other" forms of
harassment. "I'm hoping that sensitivity to gay and lesbian harassment will
be heightened," he said.

Harassment: `Unreasonably interfering'

MIT's policy defines harassment as "any conduct, verbal or physical, on
or off campus, which has the intent or effect of unreasonably interfering
with an individual's or group's educational, work or living
environment."

The booklet suggests several options for any student, faculty or staff
member who experiences sexual harassment, including reporting to a
housemaster, faculty advisor, ombudsperson, department head, the Committee
on Discipline or the Office of the Dean for Student Affairs. Such reports
would be followed by investigative procedures, mediation or more informal
procedures.

John M. Deutch '61, provost when the committee was established,
suggested that the committee's recommendations be incorporated in the
Institute's Policies and Procedures, that harassment statistics be
kept and that the committee's new definition of sexual harassment be
incorporated into the basic rules and regulations for MIT-approved living
groups.

Harassment on campus

At a faculty meeting just before the booklet was mailed out, Keyser
released the results of a survey of 2700 faculty and staff members. Of the
994 respondents, 183 said they had been involved in a harassment incident.
Keyser reported that about half the reports were of gender- or
sexually-based harassment, one-third were of general harassment and the
remainder were of racial, ethnic or other forms of harassment.

Based on responses about how much time was spent dealing with the
incidents, Keyser estimated that harassment costs MIT between $750,000 and
$1 million per year, a figure which includes an estimated 2500 work hours
lost as well as settlement and court costs.

Keyser also reported on harassment complaints received by the MIT
ombudspeople, Mary P. Rowe and Clarence G. Williams. Between the summers of
1990 and 1991, Rowe and Williams received 776 complaints, 320 of which were
sex-or gender-based.

A third survey focused exclusively on harassment of undergraduates.
Prepared by the house governments of East Campus and Baker House, the
survey focused on harassment between undergraduates and harassment from
people in positions of authority, such as faculty members or teaching
assistants. The survey asked if a student had "personally been subject" to
a variety of harassing acts at MIT.

The preliminary report presented to the faculty includes 359 responses,
or 49 percent of the Baker House and East Campus residents surveyed.
Seventy-four percent of the undergraduate women who responded had received
"unwanted teasing, jokes, remarks or questions of a sexual nature" from
another student, and 12 percent had received similar remarks from someone
in a position of authority. Thirteen percent of female respondents reported
having been victims of an "actual or attempted rape or sexual assault" from
a peer, and one individual reported such an incident from a person of
authority.

The survey also asked how students responded to the incident or
incidents. Fifty-four percent of the men and 51 percent of the women said
they ignored the incident, while 24 and 62 percent, respectively, chose to
avoid contact with the offender. Seven percent of the females filed a
formal complaint with a member of the faculty or staff, as did two percent
of the males.